Maximizing Hormones, Physique & Running Through Perimenopause
Welcome to "Maximizing Hormones, Physique, and Running Through Perimenopause," the podcast that redefines your relationship with fitness, nutrition and hormonal changes.
Hosted by American College of Sports Medicine Practitioner of the Year 2023, women's integrative health, running and performance expert Louise Valentine, this show empowers you to mitigate impacts of hormone changes without overcomplicating it or needing endless supplements, diets or medications!
Get ready to break through misinformation, ditch outdated male-based methods and apply what you learn to feel your best, level up a fit toned physique and run strong, energized and injury-free at ANY age!
Louise and her clients share how they achieve previously thought "impossible" results, driven by Louise's multi award-winning science-backed nutrition, fitness, running and fat loss methods designed for ambitious everyday runners age 35 and beyond. Get inspired each week as they share how they've turned their own health, hormone and fitness breakdowns into breakthroughs and how they now lead the way in empowering women just like you do the same!
Whether you're looking to ditch hormone havoc, optimize natural hormone production, break through a setback, or you want to understand how to lift, train and fuel harmoniously with your changing female physiology, you'll find this podcast insightful and inspiring. No more fighting against your body – Louise is here to help you harness its fierce natural power to achieve a vibrantly energized, well, fit and active life!
If you're a wellness-minded active female who loves to run and wants it all, Welcome to "Maximizing Hormones, Physique, and Running Through Perimenopause" – Your go-to resource to break through to next-level health, hormones and fitness!
Maximizing Hormones, Physique & Running Through Perimenopause
#124A - How to Hack Your Cortisol & Blood Sugar Response, Balance Hormones & Create Inner Calm
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
This simple and effective upgrade to your health, hormones and performance only takes two minutes a day!
In this episode, Louise Valentine, one of the world’s leading integrative health practitioners and exercise physiologists, explores a hidden challenge many active women face during perimenopause: chronic stress, elevated cortisol and blood sugar.
For driven women who love running, training hard, and pushing themselves, the constant “go, go, go” mindset can quietly disrupt hormones, insulin sensitivity, recovery, and long-term health. Louise explains how intense training, under-fueling, caffeine, and daily life stress can compound, leaving many women feeling exhausted, stuck with stubborn fat loss, or even facing rising blood sugar levels.
The good news is that the solution does not have to be complicated. Louise introduces a simple but powerful tool called a pause practice. By intentionally slowing down for just a few minutes during stressful transition points in the day, women can calm the nervous system, regulate cortisol, and improve recovery.
Listeners will learn how small moments of awareness, breathing, and presence can shift not only their health and training results, but also their energy, mood, and family environment. Sometimes the most powerful performance strategy is learning when to pause.
Apply what you learned with a simple yet highly effective daily pause practice in podcast episode 124B that immediately follows today’s episode!
LINKS + RESOURCES
Learn & level up with my free nutrition guide & award-winning Badass Breakthrough Academy to thrive through perimenopause with less stress: https://www.breakingthroughwellness.com/
Check out my FullScript here where you can see curated best supplement picks & save 20 % off. A small portion of the sale goes back to support BTW. Thank you!
Take advantage of our podcast listener discount & save 20% off all of Kion’s science-backed clean products. Code "LOUISE" saves on all future orders: : https://www.getkion.com/pages/maximizing
Episode Highlights:
(0:00) Intro
(02:48) Introduction to the episode and the pause practice concept
(05:27) Why perimenopause starts earlier than many women expect
(06:03) Understanding cortisol and the stress response
(07:38) How running and training volume affect cortisol levels
(09:16) Living in constant “go mode” and hidden stress
(13:29) Cortisol, insulin resistance, and pre-diabetes risk
(17:30) The “cortisol steal” and hormone imbalance
(18:01) Training adjustments to become cortisol resilient
(19:00) Using HRV and symptoms to track recovery and stress
(22:02) Introducing the pause practice for stress regulation
(25:12) How to perform a simple breathing pause
(29:18) How a pause can change your home environment and mood
(31:16) Why slowing down improves digestion and recovery
(34:12) Regulating the nervous system and cortisol response
(36:20) Finding the right moment in your day to pause
(38:30) How stress affects fat loss and belly fat
(39:49) Outro
Tune in weekly to "Maximizing Hormones, Physique, and Running Through Perimenopause" for our simple female-specific science-based revolution. Let's unlock our best with less stress!
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